J. D. Salinger in his stories portrayed people who don’t fit in with the traditional American culture of the 1950s . The post war society was believed to be happy as standard of living seemed higher, American technology was soaring and, politically, and economically America played a superior position in the world. Though there were some radicals who were not contented with such a situation, they couldnt accept a conforming way of live but they focused not only on a comfortable but meaningless life. Such radicals can be noticed in Salingers works.
His main characters are super-intelligent humans who must choose between the phony real world (American culture) and a morally-pure, meaningful world. Salinger’s characters unlike the rest of society, are caught in the struggle between a superficial world and a conscious morality. They keep in touch with reality, but rarely accomplish anything extraordinary in the eyes of ordinary men. They attack the rules of society, and become victories only by escaping from its limitations. They do not conform to the material happiness; but search for a spiritual happiness. However, it does not mean that they are anarchists.
An anarchist purposely disobeys society at every chance they get, and are generally troublemakers. But in case of Salingers characters we have nonconformists. Nonconformists do what they want, when they want. They don’t purposely go against society, but if what they feel like doing it, they just go for it as they do not consider themselves as members of it. Salinger presenting nonconformists uses various characters. There is a ten year old Teddy phenomenal child, far from perfect 16 year old Holden, veteran of war Seymour Glass and a young girl Franny. All the characters are tragic ones, they are lonely, surrounding world only pretends to listen to them. Teddy lost his childhood, although he corresponds with professors and scientists, they treat him more like a curiosity than a human being.
The Term Paper on Charles Dickens Society World David
Charles Dickens is the most widely read Victorian writer. The Victorian era, 1837-1901, was an era of new social developments that caused many of the writers of the period to take positions on the new developments in society. Dickens petitioned that social consciousness would overcome social misery. He often wrote in satire of the society around him, a smug and genius approach to the social ...
He is a mystic who receives his inevitable death with a spiritual equanimity that contrasts starkly with the logical and emotional egocentricity of everybody else in the story Inability to operate in the society also Holden Caulfield experienced; he in spite of being in a crowded city there was hardly anyone who could talk to him. He wants to be close to someone, but he does not know how to communicate with people. Even though he thinks most people are “phonies” or “slobs,” he still looks for and finds something good about everyone. He wants people to look past society and be their true selves, and he wants to do that also, but he does not want to be in complete isolation. He feels that the cause of phoniness is being in group situations and feeling like you need to be good enough for everyone else It is not society that limits him but also the times he lives in. He is uncomfortable in his twentieth-century social setting and the demands it places on him, and it is his desire to return to the older, inner-directed world Holden wanted to go back to the beginnings of America and move west; Seymour Glass also had a strong yearning to go back, but he wanted people to go back to their childhood, as only children can communicate in an honest way. His wife was too preoccupied with backbiting others to notice that here husband is a human being who could not conform to her spiritual emptiness. Franny, like Seymour, is also dissatisfied with humanity.
She discovered a certain ugliness in the hungry human ego. She notices that the Lane whom she considered as the closest person , is limited, and self centered. Discontented with humanity she is attempting to find her way out with the help of religion In spite of all the differences between the characters, they all share some common features. All of them are relatively young, inhibited by the rules of society, but attempting to overcome them only to get happiness. J.D. Salinger shows their quest for happiness through religion, loneliness, and symbolism but the quest is not always successful. Holden Caufield, considered by many as a spoiled egocentric, while in despair for losing his girlfriend, he reads a passage from the Bible. This probably helps him change his outlook on life. Holden was alone then and had no one to turn back on, until he found the Bible.
The Essay on International Students World Society People
September 11 th is a day that no one will soon forget. The terrorist attacks on New York City shook the U. S. and the entire world. The thought of such a thing happening was unimaginable for people in North America. Their security was destroyed, and we came to the realization that we were never truly safe. How could this happen? While the U. S. was paying its attention to the hate within the ...
Similar to Holden, Franny Glass found consolation in religion. She kept reciting the “Jesus Prayer” to cope with the suicide of her brother Seymour. This prayer served as a means of comfort and the last hope for Franny in this situation. She would be lost if there was no prayer. But the thing is, the marvelous thing is, when you first start doing it, you dont even have to have a faith in what you are doing. I mean even if youre terribly embarrassed about the whole thing its perfectly all right.
I mean you are not insulting anybody or anything. In other words, nobody asks you to believe a single thing when you start out. You dont have to think about what the Starets said. All you have to have in the beginning is quantity. Then, later on, it becomes quality by itself. On its own power or something.
He says that any name of God-any name at all-has this peculiar, self-active power of its own, and it starts working after youve sort of started it up This prayer is said to allow for a direct connection between God and individual, so that no one would pretend to be better than anyone else in the world. Her “Jesus Prayer” had changed her conceptions, forcing her to believe in a new outlook on life and the Bible, became a self-active power that had complete control over her body. The prayer is a response to her frustrations with her society and culture. Franny wants to purify her spirit because she feels that she has been corrupted by the conformity, destructiveness, and ego of her world. She does not want to be infected by any of these qualities. So instead, she is attracted to the idea of turning to the spiritual world, not the physical world. Religious searches are not limited to Christian religion, but Zen Buddhism, is visible though not easily.
and sometimes. Salinger son of a Jewish father and Irish-Scot mother is moving towards some religion and it is sometimes difficult to determine whether he has any religion in mind. His essenti ….
The Essay on Brave New World All Things Are Relative
Brave New World: All Things are Relative The dictionary defines civilized as 'advanced in social customs, art, and science'. The keyword here is social customs. A persons idea of what is civilized is relative to his culture. Through out the history of man, one can see many changes in customs, and customs is what defines our idea of what is civilized. The word civilized is one of the most relative ...
